Cadillac Seville / Cadillac Eldorado Forum Discussion, Lost small cap in oil fill! in Past Cadillac Vehicle Discussion; First of all i have a northstar with an oil leak. Rather than pay 1000 for a new oil pan ...

Lost small cap in oil fill!

First of all i have a northstar with an oil leak. Rather than pay 1000 for a new oil pan gasket or spend 3 days trying to do it myself.. I use the lucas stop leak. It surely does not STOP the leak the leak, but it definitely SLOWS the leak.

Well i was squeezing the rest of the lucas out of the bottle, I pulled the bottle out, and the cap was *poof* gone. I used a flashlight to spot it, tried tried to heat up a long rod and and melt it onto the rod. but again *poof* it was gone.

I am slightly mechanically inclined. I have done lots of work on easy engines aka buick 3800 1985 fleetwood ect. and some minor work on the northstar (i dont have an egine houst or shop)

questions for the vets here:
1) how do i remove the cap from the engine / how much would be a fair price to pay someone
2) how hard is it to fix the oil pan gasket

please be kind *anticipates a severe thrashings from the seniors like its freshman friday*

Re: Help!! Lost cap in oil fill! I know stupid but hear me out!!!!

Forget the snake oils and drive the car. I would not put Lucas or Seafoam anything in a blown up Briggs & Stratton lawnmower engine. The oil spout tip is sitting down in the bottom of the chaincase/oil pan. Not to worry. There's a picture of a Northstar oil pan in my albums. The cap will be down in the right end sump.

You might get lucky on a subsequent oil change IF the large end of the cap is small enough to pass through the drain plug hole.

Curious that you used a steering system "stop leak" in the engine oil. Do you plan on replacing the engine soon ? (or is that picture just for effect ?)

As posted, an oil pan reseal requires engine removal and special work with the new GM UltraGray RTV sealant. You'll see the formed seal groove (no "gasket") in the above oil pan picture.

Re: Lost small cap in oil fill!

Think what this "Lucas" marvel does, it thickens the oil, so in order not to have a oil leak you rather not have good lubrication, thus likely destroy the engine at a faster rate. Think about it if is not leaking (or is leaking at a slower rate) it will also not flow or flow ar a slower rate inside the engine in small passenges and that's THE LAST THING you want.
What I would do is drain the oil with the "Lucas" crap in it and fill up with fresh 10W30.
I also see "your money back" on that bottle, is something I would look into.
As for the plastic piece, I am not sure if there is enough space to get down to the pan, hopefully will not clog any passage.

Re: Lost small cap in oil fill!

Thanks for the info guys. The pic is just for effect it was the oil product. I will probably just fork out the 1000 to have the proper fix then. The cap is the type you cut and has a built in funnel tip

Re: Lost small cap in oil fill!

I'm going to agree with 1BadCadSTS -
you will need to pull the cam cover and get that cap out -
no-way is that going to "flow-through" to the oil pan -
and I wouldn't want that floating/flying around in the head -

Re: Lost small cap in oil fill!

OK - If the larger screw-top fell into the engine, you may now have expensive removal problems. The chances of that being eaten by the primary chain are just toooooo great to count on hope. - there is precious little wiggle room down low in the chaincase.

Know that the oil pump is driven by the torque applied to the crank harmonic balancer acting on the oil pump drive sleeve - do it wrong and you have no oil pressure on startup. The GM shop manual for your engine will give the proper beginning torque + the special degrees of bolt rotation needed to assure proper pump drive.

Re: Lost small cap in oil fill!

When I was trying to fish it out it fell behind the timing chain downwards to the right... I started the engine and it is running smooth. I got an estimate for 650 to remove the cover and get it out plus 1000 to fix the oil pan. I got this car for 900 because my buddy fears the dreaded hg failure. I really don't know if this is worth fixing. Hg 3200 plus 1650 that's 4850 more. I've already driven it for years and feel I got my money out of it... Plus there is an 06 v6 for 9k that I I am close to buying.... How long should it take to remove the cover and once off can I even get down to the lower bottom right where it fell?.